The Conservative majority on a House of Commons committee has shot down an NDP proposal to have Ontario provincial officials appear to testify about the Ring of Fire resource development in northern Ontario, The Canadian Press has learned.

The federal Conservatives expressed great interest in the Ring of Fire earlier this year when Treasury Board President Tony Clement became the government’s lead on northern Ontario development.

“This will be a project of national significance for decades,” Clement told The Canadian Press last February. “I honestly believe this is in a class by itself.”

However the Harper government appears to be distancing itself from the vast resource development since Cliffs Natural Resources, a major U.S. company, indefinitely postponed its proposed $3.3-billion chromite operation.

The prime minister declined to comment on the decision last month, calling the area some 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont., a provincial responsibility.

“This is a project that is primarily under provincial jurisdiction because ultimately resources belong to the provinces and resource development is a provincial responsibility,” Harper said in Winnipeg.

“Obviously we have been talking to Ontario over the past few years in terms of regulatory approval processes, in terms of infrastructure investments and in terms of making sure First Nations continue to benefit.”

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver recently revealed his department alone will spend about $40 million this fiscal year advertising the government’s “Responsible Resource Development” policy at home and abroad.

The overt focus of the taxpayer-funded ad campaign is Canada’s oil and gas and pipeline industries, a priority for the Harper government.

To that end, the prime minister appointed a special representative for “West Coast Energy Infrastructure” and Doug Eyford’s report was delivered Thursday morning in Vancouver.

Eyford wrote in the report that Alberta and British Columbia “perceive the federal system as comparatively leaden or indifferent and are working together, without Canada, on matters within federal jurisdiction.”

And he struck a broader note on Ottawa’s role in assisting resource projects across the country.

“It is critical for Canada to become more involved and demonstrate leadership in its relations with Aboriginal groups, industry, and provincial governments,” says the report.

The recommendation came a day after MPs on the Commons natural resources committee went behind closed doors to decide whether to hear from Ontario officials about federal help in developing the Ring of Fire.

Sources say the government majority voted down the motion from New Democrat Claude Gravelle, who represents the riding that is home to the rich deposits of chromite, nickel and other minerals.

Opposition MPs on the committee would not comment on the vote because it was taken in camera. Conservative MP Leon Benoit, the committee chairman, says he’s angry the deliberations were leaked.

“We have to trust when we go in-camera that whatever we discuss stays in-camera,” Benoit said in an interview.

Benoit did note that the Ring of Fire development is “hugely important” and said he’d love to study it.

“It would be very interesting having the province discuss why they’ve been totally unfocused when it came to the Ring of Fire, and why they raised their energy prices to a level where the Ring of Fire isn’t feasible right now,” said the Alberta Conservative.

Gravelle put another spin on hearing from Ontario officials when he wrote an op-ed Wednesday for Thunder Bay newspaper NetNewsLedger.

Gravelle called his motion “an opportunity for Ontario to identify publicly what they need from the federal government, who is responsible for what, really how to move the project forward together.”

Gravelle concluded the piece by noting the Conservative practice of moving agenda questions in camera so the public cannot know who is supporting or rejecting study proposals.

“The Conservatives prefer to have their comments and votes off record,” Gravelle wrote.

“I hope the debate on the motion will be on the public record. If not, I guess smart northerners will know what those votes were if Ontario does not appear before our committee.”